Passions.
In the first week of every new school year classes ask you to pinpoint
one activity as what you find the most interesting and why it makes you
special. My response varies from a standard “I don’t know” to a casual
“I’ll pass”. Just my luck when the question resurrected in the middle of
the year. I’ve been able to skid by without giving a direct answer but a
seven week assignment is a little much to invest my time into for a
fake passion. I tried to think of the basics like dance and piano but
the activities gave me little desire to improve immensely. Then I
reached a point in decision making where there is really only one thing
left to do... I asked my mom. She told me that the only time she ever
really saw me have real energy for something is when I’m trying to make a
change. This really got me nowhere. I’ve raised money in the past and
planned fundraisers so I wasn’t about to delve so deeply into something I
already had. But, then I realized that the charitable work I’ve never hit is the type for the
emotional aspect of helping people out. I have never created something
that makes someone feel like they have the ability and are in the
position to do the same for someone else. I wanted to campaign a pay it
forward (http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org/). Though I have put much thought into it, I
have found it is would be nearly impossible to track the actions if it
was done throughout the school. So, I will produce the pay it forward on
Facebook as a way to counteract cyber-bullying. A new Facebook account
called "Wissahickon Compliments" will be created and people can message
in something positive about a friend or someone they think needs it,
anonymously, and it will be posted by the account. If someone writes
about you, you write about someone else, portraying the pay it forward.
What I will really be teaching myself is how to campaign this in and out of school
and learn how to motivate people intrinsically to get involved. In the end, I hope to reach a point where almost every member of Wissahickon High School is friends with the account on Facebook and every participant has been written about and has sent out a message. I was also contemplating asking teachers if they think they saw a change in certain student's moods and feelings towards school. Just an idea.
Now that
you know, you have to keep it in the gifted classes that the account
was created by me. Knowing who’s behind the account ruins it a little
bit, sorry. Anyway...Friend me!
How to reach my goal:
Weeks 1, 2, and 3- create the account and see how the school responds to the idea. Watch for who sends in messages and who receives them. Learn who embraces the idea and who to target a campaign towards
Week 4- Create a campaign. Send out virtual posters, physically try and convince people to get involved, and other means of connecting to the teenage mind.
Week 5- Watch for changes from the campaign. Were more people involved? Were different groups of people interspersing? Maybe interview some teachers to see if the virtual positivity transferred to the real world.
Week 6- Compile the data. Find every compliment sent in and analyze who sent it in, if the person "paid it forward" and maybe even make a collage of the messages to hang up in the school.
